


Stars Shining Bright Above You

by Tangela



Series: Gammahammer [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, M/M, ThunderScience - Freeform, gammahammer - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-19 21:35:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14881631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tangela/pseuds/Tangela
Summary: Thor misses home, so Bruce tries to cheer him up.





	Stars Shining Bright Above You

Spending as much time with the rest of the Avengers as he had, Bruce had quickly learned to get used to their out of the ordinary habits. But something struck him as particulary odd about about the routine Thor had made for himself lately. Every evening after the sun went down, Bruce would find him at the same window of the compound, just staring, sometimes for hours. Bruce wasn’t one to judge, considering how he’d lived a great deal of his life and the little tics he’d picked up to get by, and just left Thor to it, but as the days went by, he found himself growing more and more curious, and after about a week, he finally plucked up the courage to ask him about it.

“There are no stars here. I remember Midgard having stars,” he said, finally unsticking himself from the window.

“That’s New York for you. Too many lights, you won’t see much here.” Bruce paused for a moment, as if he’d had an idea. “Follow me, I know a place you might like.”

Thor frowned, but didn't decline the offer. “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” was all the answer he got, and it was all the answer he was getting until they arrived. Bruce said nothing the whole journey, despite Thor’s best efforts. Eventually they stopped outside of an old building.

“After you,” he said, gesturing with one arm to the door.

The building didn’t look the most inviting – it was dingy and crumbling, and the more modern buildings flanking it on all sides frankly made it look even worse. But Thor had no reason not to trust Bruce and went inside, Bruce right behind him. Crossing the empty lobby, Thor found himself in a dark room, completely unremarkable until a light caught his eye and he looked up. The ceiling was entirely covered with stars. His face lit up. Bruce found them both seats, Thor almost tripping over himself when he couldn’t take his eyes off the ceiling to look where he was going.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

“How did you find such a place?" Thor hadn't taken his eyes from the all of the lights. "I thought there no magic on Midgard.”

Bruce laughed. “It’s called a planetarium. I used to come here a lot years ago when I first moved here, before-” He faltered. “I went looking for it again a little while back, I can’t believe it’s still here.”

“How does it work?” Thor asked. 

“The stars aren’t real, they’re projected onto the ceiling, and the images change periodically to show the night sky in its entirety. I, uh, I know it’s not Asgard, but-”

“No, it’s truly wonderful, thank you,” Thor interrupted, and he sounded so sincere, Bruce couldn’t help but smile. “Why do some of the stars have lines connecting them?”

“They’re there to show the image that the stars form.”

“Image?”

“Yeah, you see those lines there? Those make up Aquarius, the water-bearer.”

Thor frowned. “Really? It looks like a cluster of stars to me. How can it be a person?”

“Here, I’ll show you.” Bruce moved in a little closer, so Thor could see exactly where he was pointing. “There’s his head, and the body.” He traced a line in the air, and Thor tried to follow his movement. “And the water’s there, see?”

Thor looked more confused than ever. Bruce laughed.

“Well, you’ve gotta use a little imagination to see it,” he confessed.

“On Asgard, our stars would move across the sky. The constellations of warriors would act out great battles, the animals running or swimming as they pleased, children playing, lovers entwined in one another’s arms. It was truly magnificent.” Thor sighed wistfully.

“It sounds amazing. Now ours seem really dull by comparison.”

Thor winced, realising how what he had said had sounded. “No, no, that was not what I meant. This is just...different from what I’m used to.”

“Maybe I could tell you their stories, might make it a little more interesting?” Bruce offered. He knew how much he loved stories, and right on cue, Thor’s face lit up.

“Stories?”

“Yeah, all of the constellations have stories. Like that one there, Orion, he was a hunter. He boasted that he was so strong that he could kill all of the world’s animals, and he got on the wrong side of the goddess of the Earth, so she sent a giant scorpion after him to kill him. He escaped by throwing himself in the ocean, where he was accidentally shot by Artemis, goddess of hunting and Orion’s friend. She asked the gods to bring Orion back to life, but instead they made him into a constellation so she could always see him.”

“I didn’t know you knew so much about the stars.”

“i loved these stories as a kid, I I spent a lot of time in the library reading about them. It was a nice distraction from home.”

Bruce quickly cut himself off, busying himself with the constellations again.

“What about this one?” Thor asked, as if he hadn’t heard. Bruce wasn’t sure if he had or if he was being discreet, but he was grateful to him either way.

“That’s Leo, the lion. See, the stars there create a line for the body, and these parts are the head and tail.”

Thor was squinting now. “How do you see a lion? All I see is an odd-looking snake.”

“I know, they were really stretching it when they named some of these, huh.”

Thor had mentioned snakes before, when reminiscing about Loki, and Bruce quickly scanned the slowing changing images, trying to find the right constellation.

“Okay, you might like this one. That’s Ophiuchus, the serpent-bearer. He learned how to raise the dead, and Hades, god of the dead, who was worried he was now out of a job, had his brother Zeus, god of thunder, kill him with a lightning bolt.”

“Zeus is a god of thunder?” Thor asked.

“Yeah, in Greek mythology.”

Thor scoffed. “I would never kill someone who is kind to snakes.”

Bruce laughed. How Thor had managed to maintain that little bit of childhood innocence after everything he had been through was beyond him.

Thor turned to him. “Thank you.”

“What for?”

Thor gestured to the ceiling. “For this. For bringing the stars back to me.”

Bruce laughed, suddenly feeling very awkward. “It sounds so romantic when you put it like that. All I did was bring you to a dark room with some lights on the ceiling.”

Thor shook his head. “This means more to me than you know,” he said sincerely, and while Bruce wasn’t the best at taking compliments, he believed him.

“Don’t mention it,” he said modestly. Thor hadn’t turned back to the stars, and Bruce couldn’t help but notice just how close Thor was to him. Was he always so close? He was definitely further away before. Or he was? Wishful thinking, Banner, he told himself. He forced himself to turn his attention back to the stars, but his hands had broken out in a cold sweat.

“No matter where I’ve ended up over the years, just knowing that when I look up at the night sky, the stars will be there has always been a comfort to me,” he said softly, trying to distract himself from his nerves. “Grounds me somehow. I’ll look up there and I feel like, like I’m alone.”

“But you’re not alone.”

Bruce looked back at him. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you’ve got all of us now, you’re not alone anymore,” Thor explained.

“Yeah, yeah, right, I know.” Really wishful thinking.

The two fell silent, watching the stars move across the expanse of the ceiling. It wasn’t until an attendant announced that it was closing time did Bruce even realise how long they’d been there.

“We’d better be getting back. People might talk,” Bruce said with a nervous laugh.

“Talk? I don’t understand.”

Bruce could feel his face growing red, even as they stepped out into the chilly air. “It’s just an expression. Y’know, because we’ve been gone for so long, people might think there’s something between us.”

“And what if there was?” Thor asked, in such a nonchalant tone that Bruce almost tripped over himself.

“Well, uh, if there was, it’d be the first I’m hearing of it,” he replied, trying to sound casual.

Thor said nothing, just put his hand on Bruce’s shoulder and turned him around. Before Bruce even realised what was going on, Thor pressed a quick kiss to his lips.

“Let them talk, then,” he said, smiling at the look of shock on Bruce’s face. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to do that all evening.”

“All- All evening?” Bruce sputtered. His brain and mouth were not co-operating at all.

Thor laughed. “You’re not the most subtle person with your feelings, you know, despite what you might think,” he said, and Bruce could feel his face growing even redder.

“How long have you known?” he asked, dropping the act.

“About a week or so. Stark told me, but I had to be sure for myself.”

Bruce grimaced. “I’m gonna kill him.”

“Would you have told me otherwise?”

“No, I guess not,” Bruce admitted.

“Then really he deserves your thanks,” Thor told him.

Bruce rolled his eyes. “Right, that’s all he needs. More of an ego.”

Bruce was so wrapped up in trying to figure out what more to say on the journey home when he realised they were standing outside his room.

“Thank you for tonight, it was just what I needed," Thor told him.

“Don’t mention it, it was nothing, really," Bruce replied hoarsely, "I’ll um, I'll see you tomorrow.” He nervously moved closer to Thor, reaching up to kiss him on the cheek. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Bruce,” Thor said with a smile as Bruce closed the door.

Bruce sighed to himself, a mixture of nerves and relief. Tomorrow. He'd ask Thor everything tomorrow. Right now, he needed to sleep.

The next day, Tony found a post-it note with ‘Thank you’ written in Bruce’s neat script stuck to his monitor.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Don't listen to Dream a Little Dream of Me and imagine these two because I did and it ruined me. I've been fatigue crashing on and off for two days, so this isn't my best work, but I tried. Kudos and/or comments are always greatly appreciated! My writing tumblr is @maybeishouldwritesomething, feel free to send me a message or request. Thank you for reading!


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